(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person convicted under Federal or State law of:

(1) Planting, cultivating, growing, producing, harvesting, or storing a controlled substance in any crop year is ineligible during the crop year of conviction and the four succeeding crop years, for any of the following USDA benefits:

(i) Any payments or benefits under the Direct and Counter Cyclical Program (DCP) in accordance with part 1412 of this title;

(ii) Any payments or benefits for losses to trees, crops, or livestock covered under disaster programs administered by FSA;

(iii) Any price support loan available in accordance with part 1421 of this title;

(iv) Any price support or payment made under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act;

(v) A farm storage facility loan made under section 4(h) of the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act or any other Act;

(2) Possession or trafficking of a controlled substance, is ineligible for any or all USDA benefits:

(i) At the discretion of the court,

(ii) To the extent and for a period of time the court determines.

(c) If a person denied benefits under this section is a shareholder, beneficiary, or member of an entity or joint operation, benefits for which the entity or joint operation is eligible will be reduced, for the appropriate period, by a percentage equal to the total interest of the shareholder, beneficiary, or member.

Effective Date: This rule is effective July 16, 2015. Comment Date: We will consider comments that we receive by September 14, 2015.

7 CFR Part 718

Summary

This rule amends the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) regulations to implement provisions of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Farm Bill). This rule specifies eligibility requirements for enrollment of grassland in CRP and adds references to veteran farmers and ranchers to the provisions for Transition Incentives Program contracts, among other changes. The provisions in this rule for eligible land primarily apply to new CRP offers and contracts. For existing contracts, this rule provides additional voluntary options for permissive uses, early terminations, conservation and land improvements, and incentive payments for tree thinning. This rule also makes conforming changes to provisions applicable to multiple Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) programs, which include CRP, administered by FSA, including acreage report requirements, compliance monitoring, and equitable relief provisions.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is revising regulations on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) as required by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill) to update the Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) and Loan Deficiency Payments (LDP) Programs for wheat, feed grains, soybeans, oilseeds, peanuts, pulse crops, cotton, honey, wool and mohair. In general, the 2014 Farm Bill extends the existing programs with the minor changes that are implemented in this rule, including a revised formula for upland cotton loan rates. This rule also amends the regulations for the Economic Adjustment Assistance for Users of Upland Cotton Program, the Extra Long Staple (ELS) Cotton Competitiveness Payment Program, and the Sugar Program to reflect that the programs were extended by the 2014 Farm Bill. Most of the provisions in this rule have already been implemented, beginning with the 2014 crop year.